ISRAELI soldiers have vowed to “wipe this evil off the face of the earth once and for all” as they prepare to attack Hamas.
It came after it was revealed that some of their commanders were trying to occupy Gaza for 18 months.
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Israeli troops are preparing for a ground invasion of GazaCredit: AFP
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Family members mourn at the funeral of festival victim Antonio Macias at Pardes Chaim Cemetery in Kfar Saba, IsraelCredit: EPA
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Israeli tanks approach the Gaza border ahead of a possible ground incursionCredit: Getty
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Consequences of the Israeli airstrike on the Rafah refugee camp in the south of the Gaza StripCredit: AFP
The heated atmosphere was heavy amid calls for vengeance – but tempered by anxiety over the difficult and dangerous days ahead.
Hated on all sides by Arab nations and often reviled for its human rights record, Israel has always seemed able to maintain control.
But her new crisis government is feeling incredibly successful after a surprise attack by Hamas just over a week ago, which left 1,400 dead on the Israeli side.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — under pressure from US President Joe Biden — agreed yesterday to restore Gaza’s water supply.
And the Egyptian-controlled border crossing with Gaza is due to reopen for a “limited time” on Monday.
“Rafah will be reopened,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
“With the UN, with Egypt, with Israel, with others, we are establishing a mechanism by which we will get aid and deliver it to the people who need it.”
But the electricity is still out, and food and medical supplies are running out.
Palestinians in Gaza resorted to storing bodies in ice cream freezer vans after hospital morgues were overwhelmed.
UN humanitarian aid chief Martin Griffiths warned that the “specter of death” looms over the entire region.
Israel warned Gaza it was preparing an all-out attack “from the air, land and sea”, and Mr Netanyahu told soldiers on the front line: “The next phase is coming.”
It comes as…
A week after the bloodshed, he said the nation was approaching a “fatal hour”.
With nearly 400,000 troops preparing for battle, he said, “They are ready to take action to defeat the bloodthirsty monsters that have risen against us to destroy us.
“Hamas thought we were going to fall apart – we were going to bring down Hamas.”
On Sunday, Israel’s military said its warplanes struck about 250 military targets – killing the commander of Hamas’ southern district.
Israeli army chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi ordered soldiers near the Gaza border to target “every place, every commander, every operator.”
Biden called on Israel to follow the laws of war – and said that “the vast majority of Palestinians have nothing to do with the horrific attacks by Hamas and are suffering because of them.”
And when he was asked if the US could “deal” with Israel and the Ukrainian war, he told 60 Minutes: “We are the United States of America, for God’s sake. The most powerful nation in the history of the world.”
It came after a 24-hour deadline for the evacuation of some 1.1 million Palestinians passed.
The Israel Defense Forces offered residents safe passage to the south until 4pm on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah claimed to have attacked the areas of Jal al-Alam, Birkat Risha, Ramya, al-Manara and al-Abad along the Lebanese-Israeli border — plus a barracks in Kibbutz Hanita.
And Iran has warned of new attacks across the region due to Israeli “aggression” against the Palestinian people.
The fighting nation will now face the toughest test in its history when its boots on the ground detonate a hate mine.
Nimrod Novik, a former senior diplomat and security adviser to the Israeli government, said some military and political leaders want Israeli troops to make door-to-door arrests in Gaza for 18 months.
He added: “Others, I think, are far more sober and are not talking about overthrowing Hamas, but about depriving Hamas of the ability to threaten us.”
Talking to ordinary Israelis here – from the sophisticated coffee shops of Jerusalem to the bloody farming communities on the front lines – it’s clear that their famous fighting spirit still burns.
Every Israeli I’ve spoken to here is outraged by last week’s carnage – with outrage fueled by the sharing of images on social media that are too graphic to describe.
Just when we thought Hamas’ horror stories had reached their peak, reports surfaced that 40 babies had been killed – and several had been burned and decapitated.
Hamas and its supporters have denied it, which only increased the anger.
Then Israeli sources offered to show me video evidence.
It was an offer that, I admit, I refused.
I’ve seen a lot of awful sights in more than 30 years as The Sun’s chief foreign correspondent — two Gulf Wars, 9/11, the terrorist attacks in Paris and the war in Ukraine.
But as a father of three, I couldn’t face the nightmare images I couldn’t “undo see.”
The baby story became big again when photographer Doug Seeburg and I went to the Kibbutz village of Be’eri to hear more reports of the crimes.
The commander of the rescue team, Colonel Golan Vach, described how he retrieved the body of the murdered mother and her decapitated child in the settlement.
Pointing to the ruins of the house where he made the discovery, the colonel said: “Not only did I see a baby whose head was beheaded by Hamas, I held it in my arms.”
Other stories emerged of mutilation and defilement of corpses as we toured Be’eri for almost two hours.
Israel wants revenge – and every soldier I spoke to recited almost the same mantra: “We must wipe this evil from the face of the earth, once and for all.
“Animals that can do such things are subhuman.
“They must all die and all their supporters must die.”
A rabbi I spoke with earlier in the city of Ashdod went further: “The people of Gaza have lost their right to live here.
“There must be no more Gaza.”
But amid the furor, very few Israelis are able to answer a simple question: How can Israel retaliate without killing thousands of innocent Gazans?
I: Why should even more innocent people die?
Iran-backed Hamas is believed to have spent at least two years planning the bloodbath – complete with paragliding commandos and highly trained hit squads.
It therefore follows that they also planned for its aftermath, knowing full well that Israel would have no choice but to deploy its army.
But many analysts fear that Israel’s Operation Iron Sword is already playing directly into the hands of its cunning enemy.
One defense expert told me: “Hamas doesn’t care about its people at all.
“They are Islamist fanatics and anyone who dies is a glorious martyr for the cause.
“They don’t want peace, they want chaos – and a reaction from Israel that will bring down the ceiling in the entire Middle East.”
Clever: British hostages among the dead
BRITISH people captured by Hamas in Israel are among those killed in Gaza, the foreign minister said yesterday.
James Cleverly also confirmed that around 10 were captured during the cross-border raids last Saturday.
He said: “There are British nationals among the dead, wounded and captured.”
Among them were a six-month-old baby and his three-year-old brother.
They were kidnapped with their mother Shiri Silberman-Bibas and her husband Yarden from Kibbutz Nir Oz.
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A man cries as he carries a body out of a morgue in Gaza Credit: Getty
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Israeli army soldiers patrol an undeclared position near the border with LebanonCredit: AFP
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A shell explodes over a house in al-Bustan, a village on Lebanon’s border with IsraelCredit: AP
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Smoke rises after Israeli airstrikes in GazaCredit: EPA
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told soldiers on the front lines: ‘The next phase is coming’ Credit: AP
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